Why was Luther against the anabaptist?

[faceofbear]

In his commentary on Galatians in the first few verses he mentions about the anabaptist being like the false teachers in Galatia. That they were afraid to stand up for what they believed and they went places where they knew there wouldn't be persecution etc.

"Paul had preached the Gospel throughout Galatia, founding many churches which after his departure were invaded by the false apostles. The Anabaptists in our time imitate the false apostles. They do not go where the enemies of the Gospel predominate. They go where the Christians are. Why do they not invade the Catholic provinces and preach their doctrine to godless princes, bishops, and doctors, as we have done by the help of God? These soft martyrs take no chances. They go where the Gospel has a hold, so that they may not endanger their lives. The false apostles would not go to Jerusalem of Caiaphas, or to the Rome of the Emperor, or to any other place where no man had preached before as Paul and the other apostles did. But they came to the churches of Galatia, knowing that where men profess the name of Christ they may feel secure.

It is the lot of God's ministers not only to suffer opposition at the hand of a wicked world, but also to see the patient indoctrination of many years quickly undone by such religious fanatics. This hurts more than the persecution of tyrants. We are treated shabbily on the outside by tyrants, on the inside by those whom we have restored to the liberty of the Gospel, and also by false brethren. But this is our comfort and our glory, that being called of God we have the promise of everlasting life. We look for that reward which 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man.'"​

 

[JM]

Yah, so was Calvin.

Münster Rebellion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rebellion


Historical drawing of the execution of the leaders of the rebellion. In the background the cages are already in place at the old steeple of St. Lambert's church.


After the Peasants' War (1524/25), a second and more determined attempt to establish a theocracy was made at Münster, in Westphalia (1532–1535). Here the group had gained considerable influence, through the adhesion of Bernhard Rothmann, the Lutheran pastor, and several prominent citizens; and the leaders, Jan Matthys (also spelled Matthijs, Mathijsz, Matthyssen, Mathyszoon), a baker of Haarlem, and Jan Bockelson or Beukelszoon, a tailor of Leiden, had little difficulty in obtaining possession of the town and deposing the magistrates. Matthys was a follower of Melchior Hoffman, who, after Hoffman's imprisonment at Strasbourg, obtained a considerable following in the Low Countries, including Bockelson. Bockelson and Gerard Boekbinder had visited Münster, and returned with a report that Bernhard Rothmann was there teaching doctrines similar to their own. Matthys identified Münster as the "New Jerusalem", and on January 5, 1534, a number of his disciples entered the city and introduced adult baptism. Rothmann apparently accepted "rebaptism" that day, and well over 1000 adults were soon baptized. Vigorous preparations were made, not only to hold what had been gained, but to proceed from Münster toward the conquest of the world. The town was being besieged by Franz von Waldeck, its expelled bishop. In April 1534 on Easter Sunday, Matthys, who had prophesied God's judgment to come on the wicked on that day, made a sally with only thirty followers, believing that he was a second Gideon, and was cut off with his entire band. He was killed, his head severed and placed on a pole for all in the city to see, and his genitals nailed to the city gate. Bockelson, better known in history as John of Leiden, was subsequently installed as king.
Claiming to be the successor of David, he claimed royal honours and absolute power in the new "Zion". He justified his actions by the authority of visions from heaven, as others have done in similar circumstances. He legalized polygamy, and himself took sixteen wives. (John is said to have beheaded one wife himself in the marketplace; this act might have been falsely attributed to him after his death.) Community of goods was also established. After obstinate resistance the town was taken by the besiegers on June 24, 1535, and in January 1536 Bockelson and some of his more prominent followers, after being tortured, were executed in the marketplace. Their dead bodies were exhibited in cages, which hung from the steeple of St. Lambert's Church; the cages still hang there, though the bones were removed later.

 

[JM]

double post

 

[JM]

Yah, so was Calvin.

Münster Rebellion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a communal theocracy in the German city of Münster. The city became an Anabaptist center from 1534 to 1535, and fell under Anabaptist rule for 18 months — from February 1534, when the city hall was seized and Bernhard Knipperdolling installed as mayor, until its fall in June 1535. It was Melchior Hoffman, who initiated adult baptism in Strasbourg in 1530, and his line of eschatological Anabaptism, that helped lay the foundations for the events of 1534–1535 in Münster.

 

[desmalia]

Anabaptist is a broad term for a number of different groups. And some of those groups are quite heretical, indeed.

I can share a bit about the Mennonites as I've belonged to Mennonite churches and attended a Mennonite college. Probably the most prominent thing that sets them aside is that they're pacifists. (That, and they have the BEST baked goods and farmers sausage.. mmmmmm!)

I remember in college they had something called an "Anabaptist Hunt" in which all the freshmen were to play the part of the Anabaptists and the rest of the students represented the Lutherans. We were scattered throughout the city in an almost "scavenger hunt-like" game. It was fun, but sure made you think the Lutherans were pure evil, lol.

 

[Nova Scotian Boy]

Truth of the matter Anabaptists were a very varied group in those days and truthfully many of them were overly radically, to the point were they would be considered extremists even today. One particular group by violent means took over one German city declaring it the New Jerusalem and that they were in the last times. Anabaptists were behind many peasant uprisings in which Luther himself so many innocents die. Because many Anabaptists were peasants who were uneducated they felt overly liberated by the sudden freedom that they could read and interpret the Bible themselves, and were incredible literal. Again extremest liberal in even our society, as many were taking ideas like and eye for an eye, and many of Jesus obvious parables literally. This tended to be in the early radical reformation and as time went on you had more even minded leaders in the movement like Menno Simons ect. In University i studied the Anabaptist Reformations to a great degree and honestly had i been around then i would not have been an Anabaptist as they were nothing like what we think of them now.